DIY LEDs - The write-up

[wld1783]

wid, Thr brush take it off the heat sink, what about solder? Have you tried replacing and LED? I think that is the real question.

I replaced a couple I fried, (my bad it was a loose wire cap using a mean well constant current driver...once the wire reconnected three LEDs were gone in less than a second...MAKE SURE ALL CONNECTIONS ARE TIGHT).

A quick tap with a hammer and chisel the LEDs pop right off. I use two part thermal adheasive as drilling and tapping would of taken me months with my setup...But not that there is anything wrong with that... Cut and strip the wire close to the star and your ready to solder. I always leave a little extra wire. Dont forget to clean the heatsink with a wire brush drill bit and your good to go. I used thermal tape for the replacement simply because I did not want to take a 9 foot fixture down myself. The two part takes 15 minutes to cure the tape just sticks on. Over all I think I prefer the adheasive to the tape.

I really find it hard to believe that a few educated people who have not used the stuff or even seen it in action have a problem with it. I still think it is simply a personal preference, just a bit more protection in a marine environment. A fixture will work fine with or with out it, only time will tell it its worth the extra 20 bucks.

 

[KafudaFish]

Looks like I have some homework coming up.

 

[staggeringwade]

I got the nylon washers yesterday! I took my RKE system out to the garage to dial in the led array's mean wells to .750 mah and noticed that the ALC puts out 9.15 volts in channel A and 9.8 volts in channel B. I feel like DA could have done a better job there. I initially setup the mean wells with a 9 volt battery, but wanted to do a better job so I drug everything out to the garage and had my tank down for 2 hours just to find out that was as good as it was gonna get. I hope the voltage doesn't stray up and down.
Has anybody else noticed their ALC's don't put out 10 volts?
I'll have pictures up soon of the LED array.
Wade

 

[staggeringwade]

Okay hoping i uploaded these pictures right. I'm a mac user so things are way easier in our world that what I had to go through to get these pics up.
The aquarium is a 120 gallons 24"x24"x48".
48 leds and 2 heat sinks 10"x7". I'm currently installing a middle heat sink with 12 more leds to fill in the gap.
I used 40 degree optics on the outer perimeter, and 80's on all the rest of the leds. The array is 14" above the surface of the water.

 

[staggeringwade]

Yikes those pics are way too big! I will repost pictures tomorrow. Sorry.
Wade

 

[dc]

Staggeringwade, I removed the extremely large pictures.

 

[HeneryH]

Yikes those pics are way too big! I will repost pictures tomorrow. Sorry.
Wade

Host them on your favorite picture hosting service (photobucket.com, picasa.com etc) and just hyperlink to them here by surrounding the URL in tags.

For example (use ‘[‘ rather than ‘{‘ in real usage) {img}http://your.hyperlink.com/example.jpg{/img}

 

[kcress]

HeneryH; Too big is too big regardless of where they're hosted.

Stagger:
You can use resizing software or links to reduce them.

Try this one:
http://photoresize.com/index.php

 

[stugray]

Here is something new:

http://www.led-tech.de/en/High-Powe...E-XP-G-R5-on-Ceramic-PCB-LT-1713_120_138.html

Ceramic star...

price is good too.

Stu

 

[JohnsonSBK]

trying to figure out spacing for a LED fixture. what would be the recomended for SPS? and what could i get away with for LPS and softies?

 

[XSiVE]

trying to figure out spacing for a LED fixture. what would be the recomended for SPS? and what could i get away with for LPS and softies?

Depends on how deep your tank is... but you can get away with a lot if you want LPS / softies. 3" spacing without optics could most likely be done so long as the tank isn't more then 22" or so deep..

 

[mammut89]

wow , this topic has come far since last time I read it ( around 1 year ago ). I think it is safe to say that there is enough evidence and information of how to do this yourself. And the growth is good in the corals. Not very long ago that there were plenty of negative people on this topic. Now its just a matter of doing it. The prices are very feasible too.

Thank you to the people that have spent money and time to get the info out here.

 

[lpsouth1978]

I have been reading this post for quite a while, and have not seen mention of UV LED's being used. I have talked to some of my local LFS and been told that you must use UV LED's in your array to grow SPS. Has anyone here tried this. Is it neccessary to use UV. I can only find 3W UV LED's from one supplier and they want $25 for each one. I would only need 2 of them for my small tank, but it is a cost I would rather not incurr if it is not needed.

 

[sammy113]

I have been reading this post for quite a while, and have not seen mention of UV LED's being used. I have talked to some of my local LFS and been told that you must use UV LED's in your array to grow SPS. Has anyone here tried this. Is it neccessary to use UV. I can only find 3W UV LED's from one supplier and they want $25 for each one. I would only need 2 of them for my small tank, but it is a cost I would rather not incurr if it is not needed.

it has been discussed a lot of times. I've had LEDs for over a year now and I have successfully grown SPS without UV LEDs. I've seen people that have used it but don't really know the results. Plus UV LEDs should be handled with care

 

[lpsouth1978]

Sammy, Thanks for the info. That is what I was thinking. I will just stick to Blue and white LED's in an alternating pattern then.

 

[sammy113]

You should also check for other colors also. There's a discussion with integrating Neutral Whites, Cyan, Blue, Violet, Red and whatnot to the Cool White & Royal blue patter we used to build.
Heres a picture from the maxpect thread with some of these LEDs

And here a picture of my lamp. I changed 4 Cool Whites for Neutral Whites

 

[lolgranny]

Insted of reading alllll 200 pages can someone sum up what i need to do this. My buddy is a electrical engineer and he said he could make me a unit no issue, but i want to know what LEDs ill need / power supplys...ect

Thanks friends!
Dave

 

[TheFishMan65]

There is a summary back on page 171 post 4260. That will answer a lot of your questions.

 

[lpsouth1978]

You should also check for other colors also. There's a discussion with integrating Neutral Whites, Cyan, Blue, Violet, Red and whatnot to the Cool White & Royal blue patter we used to build.

I have read some in those threads as well. My peoblem is with the size of the array I will be building. I will only be lighting a 3 gallon pico. I was already planning on mixing cool white and neutral white. Do you feel that I should throw a red or another color in there as well? I would ony be able to do 2, maybe three others max without cutting out too many of the blue or white.

 

[wld1783]

I have read some in those threads as well. My peoblem is with the size of the array I will be building. I will only be lighting a 3 gallon pico. I was already planning on mixing cool white and neutral white. Do you feel that I should throw a red or another color in there as well? I would ony be able to do 2, maybe three others max without cutting out too many of the blue or white.

It all depends on how you want your tank to look. If you want a warmer look then a warmer XR-E and a red. Ive seen great growth with only using the Cool White and Royal Blue. Personally I prefer a more blue or 17K look but mank have used a 6.5K look with good results. If you do go with a large mix of LEDs I would use dimmable drivers or buckpucks so you don't fry your corals.

AS far as UV to the best of my knowledge SE MH bulbs have a UV shield to prevent UV

Bill